Register online or at 646-312-3231 or by emailing matthew.lepere@baruch.cuny.edu

Join a panel of diverse experts to discuss the CitiBike program from the perspectives of government, business, transportation, academia, urban planning, environmentalism and other areas.

In May 2013, after nearly two years of planning and intensive public input, the much-anticipated New York City bike sharing program launched with roughly 6,000 bicycles and 600 docking stations in Midtown, Lower Manhattan and West Brooklyn with plans to expand further north and east. Operated by NYC Bike Share LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alta Bicycle Share, CitiBike is the highest-profile bike sharing program in the US and, arguably, the world, joining systems in Hangzhou, Mexico City, London, Washington DC, Boston, Melbourne, Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal and many others.

In the few months since its launch, the program has signed up 80,000 annual members and hosted nearly 2 million cumulative trips, with daily trips increasing from roughly 6,000 to a current average of 36,000. The popularity of the program has captured the attention of city planners, commuters and transit advocates across the country. Yet many city residents are still not convinced that CitiBike will benefit the city as a whole and not just the small proportion of residents and tourists who use the program. Advocates expect CitiBike to improve commute times, lessen crowding on public transportation and reduce congestion and pollution on New York’s streets. According to New York City’s Department of Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, the program will generate approximately $36 million in economic activity and create 170 new jobs in the first year.

What are the long- and short-term implications of the CitiBike program for New Yorkers’ health, wealth and happiness? Will New York be changed forever, while leading a nationwide turn toward bicycle commuting? Can the program survive without its heavy corporate subsidies? How will the program affect the real estate market? What are the next steps in this reinvention of urban commuting?